I'm just gonna leave this here, thought it was a pretty good comment/analysis on James Allen's page...

I've read a number of comments deriding Ferrari's strategy but to me this suggests a misunderstanding of the race. In my view, Mercedes' win was down to their clever strategic choices in light of favourable race circumstances/events (i.e. no competition from behind and the VSC) as opposed to poor ones from Ferrari. I'm sure James Allen will go into (correct!) detail on this on Tuesday but below is my interpretation: Firstly, Ferrari executed the theoretical fastest strategy: Soft/Soft/Medium was the optimal strategy and certainly faster than Soft/Medium/Soft since track improvement means it is better to save the slower tyre for the final stint. However, that assumes a clear race with no nasty surprises. However, Vettel's race was twice compromised during his second 'fast' stint - when he needed to be extending the gap to Hamilton: 1. Mercedes using Bottas to back Vettel into Hamilton and, 2. The VSC. The expectation of the race (after the first stints had played out) was that Vettel was going to build around, say a 14-15 second gap to Hamilton on his Soft stint while Hamilton was on Mediums. He then would use this buffer to try and hold off Hamilton when he was charging on his Softs at the end. Who would win, who knows, but the point is Ferrari would have expected to be in a much stronger position than they were. But Vettel lost 4 seconds stuck behind Bottas and around 8 seconds with the VSC. The VSC also forced an early round of pitstops. Without that Vettel would have had even more laps on Softs to extend his lead. It's important to realise that the reason Mercedes could play the strategic card of using Bottas to hold Vettel (and to a lesser extent to use Mediums for stint 2) is because Mercedes and Ferrari were in a race of their own. Hamilton and Vettel were miles out front and Bottas had no threat from behind. In a closer race with the rest of the pack and if Raikkonen had still been around, it's unlikely Mercedes could have afforded to sacrifice Bottas to hold Vettel up by 4-5 seconds in two laps! Such a tactic would likely have risked 3rd place if Raikkonen hadn’t retired. What really did for Ferrari was the VSC. Mercedes did play a blinder there and it turned out the Softs had plenty of life still in them. But Ferrari were in some ways done for. If they had pitted first under the VSC, Hamilton would have gained track position and there’s a chance he may have tried to go to the end on his Mediums. Ferrari likely didn’t expect Mercedes to pit for Softs with 32 laps to go. Note that all those that pitted (I think) did so for Mediums. The fact Mercedes left their stop to the last second also outsmarted Ferrari. But VSC was a handicap for Vettel as it prevented him from continuing to build his lead. Finally, this was also a race where the driver played a huge part and the performances of Hamilton and Vettel should also be praised. It was clear how every lap mattered, as evidenced by Hamilton being physically drained through pushing lap after lap, and by the impatience of Vettel’s fantastic double dummy overtake on Bottas, fully aware of its importance. Top stuff.

Ferrari experienced a rather woeful race weekend in Spain. The team kept quite over its upgrades, but sounded relaxed when it was confronted by the scale of its arch-rival Mercedes’ development package. The Italians also introduced a series of small modifications like minor changes to the KERS, modified bargeboards, U-shaped wing instead of the T-Wing.
Despite series of mechanical problems for Vettel over the weekend and setup issues on Friday, Ferrari did not fail to impress on Saturday and Sunday with its speed. In the qualifying session, Räikkönen set the best time in the first sector, Vettel in the second. The German was on course to claim pole before his attempt faded in the last sector. Comparison of Vettel’s and Hamilton’s best laps showed that Vettel lost out on turn 10, 12 and in the chicane which are all slow speed turns. It came as a surprise after Ferrari had the better of Mercedes in the technical slow last sector of the Sochi race track a fortnight ago. However, Ferrari opted for a lower downforce setup in Spain and Vettel did not really have the best of preparation for the all-important qualifying session due to the mechanical issues he suffered during practices.

It's a bit strange that we came with a lower downforce setup in Spain considering Catalunya is an aero track. However, this brings hope for Monaco as we may have a higher downforce setup up our sleeve.

"Of course, that would be very nice, but there is more to it, like a budget and the infrastructure.

Max is right, if there isn't a fancy infrastructure on the track, no F1 race. That's the F1 standard nowadays. No matter how good the track layout is, the track's surroundings must have a fancy infrastructure.

Max is right, if there isn't a fancy infrastructure on the track, no F1 race. That's the F1 standard nowadays. No matter how good the track layout is, the track's surroundings must have a fancy infrastructure.

agreed. Hope Zandvoort makes it back. However, the crews are somewhat stretched with regards to flying from one GP to another @ 20. IF, they go 22 to 25 GP's per year as proposed by Liberty, then race teams would have to hire two race crews....each doing the other GP as well as staff and personel....more money involved.

agreed. Hope Zandvoort makes it back. However, the crews are somewhat stretched with regards to flying from one GP to another @ 20. IF, they go 22 to 25 GP's per year as proposed by Liberty, then race teams would have to hire two race crews....each doing the other GP as well as staff and personel....more money involved.

Well, you can always remove Bahrain from the calendar No one is interested in motorsport there anyway. The Americans stated they want more races in Europe, U.S. and South America. Germany and France are coming back next year i think. So, this leaves one more race in U.S. and one more race in South America, possibly Argentina? Some races got to go, i reckon one of them might be Bahrain? We need one more race to leave the calendar. Which one would that be? Abu Dhabi maybe? Doubt it though, that track is way too glamorous to be off the calendar any time soon. Maybe Baku will be here for 2 more years and then it will go away.

Well, you can always remove Bahrain from the calendar No one is interested in motorsport there anyway. The Americans stated they want more races in Europe, U.S. and South America so this may happen.

Personally, I kinda like Bahrain....nice track. I cannot speak for attendance when comparing the last 5 or 10 years. BAKU comes to mind for me when it comes to eliminating a GP in place of another one. Would be nice if Liberty opened one up in Vegas....another night race!!!! plus its a tourist town and the infastructure is already there; hotels, airport, mass transit, restaurants, hospitals....all the lights and glam.....it would be epic.

Silverstone seems to be having some issues as to wanting to remain on the GP calender.

Personally, I kinda like Bahrain....nice track. I cannot speak for attendance when comparing the last 5 or 10 years. BAKU comes to mind for me when it comes to eliminating a GP in place of another one. Would be nice if Liberty opened one up in Vegas....another night race!!!! plus its a tourist town and the infastructure is already there; hotels, airport, mass transit, restaurants, hospitals....all the lights and glam.....it would be epic.

Yeah i agree. A night race in Vegas would be epic. This race would come awesome in place of Baku, eliminating one street race for another which is better. When it comes to Bahrain, i don't mind the track as well, however the atmosphere there is very dull. It's like they are racing alone in the desert. I think an awesome race in Argentina instead of Bahrain would be great. So, we solved the issue, really. We got 2 more races in Europe next year, replace Baku with Vegas and Bahrain with Argentina and the calendar is nearly perfect

Lewis Hamilton being selfish and the "pity-me" card is being handed out. I mean really, did he not think that F1 is really a constant pressure sport 9 or 10 months outta the year??? Not just that but what about his team and personnel that work the whole year through...missing birthdays, anniversaries, births, etc. to give him a winning car. I swear, this guy is selfish and its all about me me me!!!! Can't stand his off-the-track "temper-tantrums." Wanna-be rapper!!!

'I didn't get to hang out with my friends': Lewis Hamilton slams the racing industry for 'robbing' him of his social life... after making a whopping £131million from the sport

Lewis Hamilton being selfish and the "pity-me" card is being handed out. I mean really, did he not think that F1 is really a constant pressure sport 9 or 10 months outta the year??? Not just that but what about his team and personnel that work the whole year through...missing birthdays, anniversaries, births, etc. to give him a winning car. I swear, this guy is selfish and its all about me me me!!!! Can't stand his off-the-track "temper-tantrums." Wanna-be rapper!!!

'I didn't get to hang out with my friends': Lewis Hamilton slams the racing industry for 'robbing' him of his social life... after making a whopping £131million from the sport

I agree, he shouldn't be moaning. Besides, what he says it's not really true. Just visit his instagram, he is posting all kinds of pictures of him having lots of fun in various exotic destinations around the world with his friends. I don't have anything against his life style or anything, but he shouldn't be moaning like this.

Lewis Hamilton being selfish and the "pity-me" card is being handed out. I mean really, did he not think that F1 is really a constant pressure sport 9 or 10 months outta the year??? Not just that but what about his team and personnel that work the whole year through...missing birthdays, anniversaries, births, etc. to give him a winning car. I swear, this guy is selfish and its all about me me me!!!! Can't stand his off-the-track "temper-tantrums." Wanna-be rapper!!!

'I didn't get to hang out with my friends': Lewis Hamilton slams the racing industry for 'robbing' him of his social life... after making a whopping £131million from the sport